Fujitsu Siemens has signed on the dotted line to flog EMC storage systems throughout EMEA until 2008. EMC is so delighted that it has promptly named Fujitsu Siemens as its supplier of the year for the second year in a row.

The falling dollar and new money from Azlan helped Tech Data to easily exceed year-on-year net income and revenues for Q4, ended 31 January, 2004. The distie giant had net sales of $4.9bn, 22 per cent higher than last Q4's $4bn.

Kazaa owner Sharman Networks today said the company will appeal against an Australian Federal judge's ruling that information seizure orders granted to the music industry last month be allowed to stand.

Apple's legal woes continue. Yesterday, a French music rights management organisation threatened to sue the Mac maker if it fails to cough up a levy imposed on recording equipment as a compensation against piracy.

Court documents obtained by The Register show Microsoft's legal campaign to stamp out Lindows in Benelux becoming positively surreal. In addition to merely demanding the impossible, i.e. blocking Benelux access to the Lindows.com site, the company insists that Lindows.com should stop using names that might sound like names that might sound like names... Well, you get the picture.

The September 2002 acquisition of part of KPMG Consulting's business drove Atos Origin to post a net loss and declining revenue last year. While the company may also struggle initially to absorb Sema, its latest purchase, it remains well placed overall in the IT services sector.

Microsoft yesterday confirmed a decision to delay the next versions of SQL Server and Visual Studio until next year. These are needed for testing and quality assurance work, says the software giant, which until recently has been talked of a 2004 debut for both packages.

The good burghers of Amsterdam will next month be able to avail themselves of no fewer than three Mac stores - a vast improvement on the one tiny outlet which served the city just a year ago. Two of the new stores will be similar to those of the chain of US Apple-owned stores.

When Apple CEO Steve Jobs launched the company's iTunes Music Store, he compared each song's 99c price tag with the cost of a latte. The coffee analogy has proved oddly prescient, since Apple may soon be serving up song downloads to Starbucks customers.

A document leaked onto the Internet purporting to be a full specification for Nintendo's forthcoming DS handheld includes a touch panel input device, 802.11 wireless LAN support and a 3D graphics system.

It's been a good year so far for Microsoft UK - a couple of high profile open source insurrections in the public sector headed off, and an honorary knighthood for Bill, so who could ask for more? But the UK could be where Microsoft finally begins to taste defeat on the desktop, and where the Windows franchise starts to buckle.

In a revelation that may damage Microsoft's impeccable open source credentials, Business Week has revealed that Microsoft staff encouraged a San Francisco-area investment company to invest in the SCO Group. The SCO Group is embroiled in a lawsuit against IBM and two companies who use Linux software, claiming that they all owe SCO money.